Sydwes Unite! ((Belle))

[August Reid R7]

I fly in the air,
But I am not always there.
I cannot be touched,
But I can be held.
If you live by the equator,
You might grow old and never see me.
What am I?

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The bronze eagle stated for the third time to August. It it were an animate object, August would have sworn that it was getting impatient. But August was not there to solve the riddle that would let him into Ravenclaw common room. He was sitting at the top of the staircase waiting for Belle to come back to the tower. They often would meet out in front of the common room. The common room was often too full of Ravenclaws. August did get along with his fellow Ravenclaws. For the most part. But some of them took their studies way too seriously. Especially now with exams coming up. Some of the older years had "reserved" certain tables and placed hexes on them in case anyone else wanted to sit there. To August, it was just a table. But to the other Ravenclaws, it was a superstition. They had to sit in the exact same spot or else they would fail their exams. It was things like that that made August dislike Ravenclaws. His philosophy was not all about studying. Yes, marks were important to him but there was more to life than books. That is why August waited for Belle just outside the Ravenclaw door. If they were in the common room they would probably talk and laugh much to the dismay of the older Ravenclaws. This way the two of them could make plans of what they were going to do without disturbing the other students. Although they probably thought August could not solve the riddle and were laughing at him behind the door. August tried not to think about their thoughts or their reactions and the bronze eagle asked him for a fourth time.

It seemed like forever ago that Belle and he had started their own little group: the Sydwes. It wasn't so much a group as it was a pair. So far there was only two of them. But that didn't matter. It felt good to belong to something. So many times August didn't feel like he belonged to anything. Or anyone. His brother Jack was becoming more and more distant with every passing day. Ever since Jack and August found out the truth of their father, Jack related to the family more and more infrequently. When Bronsen had come to Hogwarts August had hoped that the two of them would become quite close. They had been sorted into the same house after all. But August should have known that as soon as Bronsen came to the castle he has had his head buried in one book or another acting like the library was some sort of treasure trove. That's why August was glad to have a friend like Belle. She was fun and brought out a side of August that had not been seen for quite some time now. They had not known each other for very long, but August felt as though they had become fast friends. This year August had made many friends including a prefect and a Slytherin. August wasn't quite sure which one he should be more amazed by. He had never taken a liking to authority and therefore Theo would have never crossed his mind as a friend. But then there was a Slytherin who were mostly mean and proud but Dylan was different. Things were so confusing in his life. He needed to sit down with his fellow Sydwe and sort things out.

Although August did not specifically ask her, he hoped that Belle would bring her camera. The sun was making its final descent into the western sky and it made shadows seem long and colors were vibrant. He loved to watch her take the photos and then see them on her... what did she call it? ...digital screen. August sometimes felt that he did not have an artistic bone in his body and so he liked to live vicariously through Belle. If she didn't bring her camera that was all right also, they would still have fun together. They always had fun together.

I fly in the air,
But I am not always there.
I cannot be touched,
But I can be...

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"Oh clear off!"

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

“Shoot.” Those were the words of the third year Ravenclaw girl. ‘Shoot’ was a normal word for her to use. Actually, something much stronger, but I’m not about technicalities. She could be heard using these words regularly. Whether it be her dropping her art pencils, or forgetting her homework, the words were very present. While she was sitting under this tree by the lake today she must have murmured to herself several times. Once while she was taking a picture of a girl reading and the girl got pushed by some idiot in track pants. Another time when she had slipped and landed on some not so dry grass, and yet another time when she was going through her recent pictures and discovered about ten pictures of a pair of shoes that clearly weren’t hers. Tayrn would pay. But no, this time when ‘shoot’ slipped from her mouth Belle had glanced at her wrist and noticed the her watch informed her that she was practically late on meeting August. This was another thing about Belle, she didn’t like being late. When she was early for something at least she was in control, and that was big thing, Belle was a control freak. Yet she was late on meeting her close friend. She whispered under her breath again as she scrambled to her feet to go meet him.

Sports where not her thing. She absolutely hated them. This did not however, explain why she was running as fast as she could though the lawns, her kitty heels sinking into the wet dirt, and her camera bag banging against her hip. It was not a pretty moment for anyone. Someone had even dared to laugh at her. Isabelle may have denied even being born by the woman known as her mother, she even tried to distance herself form anything that seemed like a Victoria thing to do, but she clearly inherited the attitude anyway. “Excuse me?” She had asked the younger student her tone not friendly at all, oh yeah, the punk was younger then her. They now had lost the smirk of their face and couldn’t come up with a coherent sentence. “That’s exactly what I though booger, now run along, and if I catch you laughing at me again I won’t be as nice.” She told the boy with an innocent smile on her face. Laughing as she watched them scamper away. Belle, wouldn’t even remember this moment, the kid had nothing to worry about. But it was all about putting the fear where it belonged. But now she had no time to dwell on this little meeting. She had to go meet August her fellow Sydwes. Yeah, she was in a club, be jealous. Even if this club consisted of two members. But let’s face it. It’s pretty exclusive, and they still have more fun then you.

She rounded another yet another corner. Things here in Hogwarts where very confusing, up was down, and down was left. It barely made sense sometimes. But she happened to make it to the tower, and spotted the man off the hour sitting in front of the Ravenclaw door waiting for her. The bronze eagle was asking him a riddle, but half way through it he told the thing to shut up. “That’s my boy.” She told him with a smile on her face. She shot the Eagle statue a sour look. She hated it. It did this to her and August often, she was sure it was repeating the same question over and over. And she wasn’t in the mood to just smile and ignore it. Like mentioned before Belle hated to be late, and arriving late for anything always put her on the edge. It was a good thing August was there, he was always nice, and laughed at her stupid jokes, and just calmed her down. Tayrn was the best friend who brought out the worst in Belle. Around Tayrn she was even more sarcastic then usual. Her attitude would shoot through the roof, and Belle talk back like there was no tomorrow. They did everything normal girls did, shopped, ate, and made Victoria’s life unbearable.

But August, he calmed her down. He was more of the listening ear, the one she could relate more too. She often thought she was a bad friend to him. But she loved that they where friends. Even on the worst days he brightened her day. She sighed deeply. “So … I’m late.” She told him in a voice that showed she was clearly not happy with herself. “Oh, and some second year laughed at me. I deserve respect, after all I am a Leynette, and I was older then them. But enough about me. Hi.” She told him, rambling, but stopping herself. The eagle looked like it was about repeat the riddle, but Belle took August and moved him away from the door. It was more peaceful.

{Hey, so ... it's shorter then i planned. For that I am extremly sorry. But when i return from camp I will have an amazing reply for you ;D}

[August Reid R7]

August wished that magic could do everything. But even magic had its limits. One of the things that August wished magic could do was create food. But one could not create food from nothing. That was one of the first rules that Professor McGonagall taught her students. Well, before she became Headmistress. It was such a shock when Professor Dumbledore retired. No one really knew the real reason but the rumors spread through the school like wildfire. The most popular opinion held was that Professor Dumbledore was too upset at the loss of Harry Potter to continue at Hogwarts. It was well known that Professor Dumbledore had a somewhat paternal relationship with Harry. When Professor McGonagall took over as Headmistress, Professor Throne took over as the Transfiguration teacher. Professor Throne didn't seem to be as uptight as Professor McGonagall but August would still miss having her as a teacher. She was very knowledgeable and was always willing to help a student that was not understanding material. August recalled the lecture she gave detailing the limits of magic. August wasn't really hungry but he wished that he had an eclair while he was waiting for Belle. She prided herself on punctuality so it was unusual that she was late. August on the other hand was usually always late. Not by much. Usually five or ten minutes. Which did get rather annoying to some especially for professors. That is why August tried extra hard to make the Sydwes meetings on time. He would often tell himself that meetings started ten minutes earlier than they actually did just so he could be there on time.

August smiled when he saw Belle come up the steps. They had an odd relationship but one that August would not change for the world. "Those second years. Honestly, why do they think they're so special? I hope you gave them the 'Belle look,'" he drew quotation marks in the air with his fingers. "Oh yes, you have a look. A look that could scare even a boggart. That's all right. I was just sitting here enjoying the company of this wonderful eagle." August looked up at it and it just blinked blankly as if it had no idea what he was talking about. August looked back at Belle and shook his head. He followed her as she lead him away from the door. "You know," August started with a giggle, "you would think that we could come up with another spot for us to meet. Being Ravenclaws and everything. We're supposed to be the smart ones, right?" Sometimes it amazed August that he was in Ravenclaw. He would to think that he was intelligent but he didn't even compare to some of the other students in the house. Like his younger brother Bronsen. He was only eleven but knew things that August could not even comprehend. "I hereby call this meeting of the Sydwes to order. We have to be official." August said with a nod. "First order of business: gossip. Do you think everyone in there," August indicated the Ravenclaw common room with a gesture of his hand, "hates me? It's a crazy question I know, but I performed so badly in the game against Gryffindor. Maybe I should just quit the team," he sighed. He didn't mean to blurt it out quite like that but he had been wanting to talk to Belle about it ever since the game. They hadn't been able to make time for each other what with exams coming up and he had been wanting to talk to her so badly that it just came out.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

Belle had many faults she wouldn’t hide if asked. She was brutally honest for one. If something wasn’t okay, she would be the first to tell you. If you had spinach in your teeth it would most likely be Belle telling you about it with a not so innocent smile on her darling face. Or if you asked a question she would not lie to you, but except something you may not want to hear. This leads us to her being a perfectionist. Nice and neat, everything had to fit somewhere. Here friends, her work, her life, she all had it figured out on her system. That was why she was always on time, and most of the time, early. But of all her faults the Belle we knew would never listen, nor tolerate gossip. But today she wasn’t regular, every other day Belle. No today she was not herself at all. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. And not being herself she had in fact listened, and contributed to more gossip then she ever had before in her dorm room. See, she talked about her mother to August and Tayrn, and she talked about their lives with them, but she didn’t consider that gossip. This time she had been discussing a much talked about Ravenclaw female. Belle knew the reason most people talked about her because they were jealous. There were a lot of reasons to be jealous of the older Ravenclaw, but her recent adventure in her life had people talking about her more then usual. Apparently she had done something, because her very cute and sought after boyfriend and her were not speaking. No one knew what exactly went down, but everyone had theories.

She hadn’t thought much about her theory until she was running down the halls. Maybe Rachel Cohen had met someone that was better looking, and maybe paid more attention to her. She was only thinking of Rachel because she saw the girl walking down the halls with her best friend Noalan Bounds, they were having a heated discussion, then suddenly the pretty fifth year had began to laugh, bringing that handsome Bounds smile out for the world to see. This reminded her of her very own best friend and only made her run faster, thoughts of the scandalous Rachel Cohen slipping out of her mind. But she saw her once more as the fifth year Ravenclaw entered through the doors, answering the question the eagle intended for her and August and interrupting a Sydwes moment. She had smiled apoplectically and Belle remembered what her grandmother had said sometimes, speak of the devil and he doth appear. “You know who deserves the ‘Belle” look, ever though I might object to having one in about two minutes? It’s Rachel Cohen. Who does she think she is for interrupting us like that?” Belle asked. “Now on the look I don’t have, do you think it would work on non-living objects?” She asked him eyeing the eagle again.

By now they were away from the door, just sitting in the hallway, backs against the walls. “You know … I agree. We really do need another place. But please not outside. I’m getting to much sun as it is already.” She told him looking at her arms; she knew that during the summer she would turn a very not favorable shade of pink. “We are the smart ones, but … lazy smart ones.” She told him with a laugh. See, calm, she was a lot calmer then we she first made it here. It was hard to be regular Belle around August. She wasn’t snippy, or rude around him. She was calmer and felt as if the weight of her problems and the world couldn’t bother her when she was with him. That was what friends had to be there for. Looking around she watched the people walking by. It was surprising that people were actually there. Many of them were Ravenclaws and had begun to walk to were she and August had been a moment ago. Others were leaving, like Rachel Cohen. “Oh my gosh, didn’t she just go inside. Where could she possibly be going now? “She was frazzled.

But soon the good times began to roll. “So, were officially allowed to talk now.” She said with a laugh. “Nobody hates you August, you know except Slytherins, but they tend to hate everyone. And news flash.” She began. “It’s just a silly game. Yeah, I only came to watch because you were my friend. If you weren’t playing I would have never gone, and we lost, I still wouldn’t have cared. Now let’s stop sulking and think about the fact everyone’s had the exams to distract them. And that is enough time to get over it. Has to help we’re Ravenclaws and obsessed with doing well on the exams. I mean, even I studied.” She said holding her hand to her heart for a dramatic measure. “Plus, I don’t hate you. And let’s be honest. I am the only one that matters.” She told him with a smile.